ATTOM: Zombie Foreclosures Shrink Further; Empty Properties Flat

(Image courtesy of Thai Dang/pexels.com)

ATTOM, Irvine, Calif., released its second-quarter 2024 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report, finding that 1.3 million residential properties currently sit vacant in the U.S.

That’s equivalent to about 1.3% of homes, flat from the first quarter.

There are 237,208 residential properties in the U.S. in the process of foreclosure, down 2.3% from the first quarter, and down 23.9% year-over-year.

ATTOM noted that foreclosure activity has declined after the influx of cases following the end of the COVID-related foreclosure moratorium in 2023.

Moreover, ATTOM revealed that there are about 6,945 zombie foreclosures, meaning they were abandoned by owners. That’s down 5.4% from the prior quarter and down 20.6% from a year ago.

And, the portion of pre-foreclosure properties that have become “zombies” is down from 3% in the first quarter to 2.9% in the current quarter.  

ATTOM pointed out that, ultimately, zombie foreclosures are a very tiny proportion of the nation’s housing stock.

“Predictions of a huge spike in foreclosures after the moratorium, with the potential for a surge in zombie properties, never came true. Indeed, the opposite has happened, as abandoned homes in foreclosure continue to get harder and harder to find around the country,” said Rob Barber, CEO for ATTOM. “Some signs have popped up over the past year that the long U.S. housing market boom is giving back some of its gains, which could lead to declining equity and more foreclosures. We are still far from losing the benefit of having zombie properties nearly disappear from the housing market landscape.”